Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Disciples of the 36th Chamber Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 22, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Shawscope Volume Two.

The good news is if you have a martial arts fan you've been worried about finding an appropriate holiday present for, your prayers have been answered (for the second year in a row in fact), by the thoughtful folks at Arrow Video, who are returning to the evidently bottomless well that gave lovers of a certain Hong Kong studio one of 2021's most impressive releases, Shawscope Volume One. The bad news is, if you're a martial arts fan intrigued by this new release, you're going to have to put the rest of your life on hold to make it through not just a glut of Shaw Brothers films, but an immense assortment of supplemental material. As with the first volume of Shawscope, there's probably no doubt that some films will appeal to some viewers more than others, but the sheer variety of films in this set, along with an authoritative set of bonus features, will almost certainly make this a marquee item for genre aficionados.

Not to pun too horribly with a kinda sorta joke usually utilized to describe selecting from a menu at an Asian restaurant, but Disciples of the 36th Chamber more or less takes "one from Column A" and "one from Column B" in terms of what it appropriates from the two previous films in this ostensible franchise, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and Return to the 36th Chamber. While this film definitely continues in the largely comic vein exploited in Return to the 36th Chamber, it also features Gordon Liu once again returning to the role of San De, the monk at the center of the first film in the series.

That said, it's arguable that this film is in fact more about a "disciple", in this case a ne'er-do-well named Fang Shiyu (Hsaio Ho) than about the "master", who is of course San De. The film has some of the same political intrigue that often informs these efforts, and there's the recurring subtext of the villains wanting to get the lowdown on "secret Shaolin techniques". The film probably doesn't quite match either the visceral intensity of the first film or in fact the admittedly intermittent comic charms of the second, but it's breezy in its own way and still provides the requisite amount of complex fight choreography that many fans of the Shaw Brothers are going to be expecting.

Disciples of the 36th Chamber Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Disciples of the 36th Chamber is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. Arrow's insert booklet lumps all the films together on its page devoted to the restorations, as follows:

All fourteen films in this boxset are presented in their original aspect ratios (2.35:1 for all films except 1.85:1 for The Boxer's Omen and The Bare-Footed Kid) with their original Mandarin, English, and Cantonese (where applicable) monoaural soundtracks. Every effort has been made to present these films in their original and complete versions using the best materials available.

Return to the 36th Chamber, Disciples of the 36th Chamber, My Young Auntie, Martial Arts of Shaolin and The Bare-Footed Kid were remastered by Celestial Pictures in 2003-2007, as part of an initiative to digitally restore the entire Shaw Brothers library. The High Definition masters of these restorations, which included the original Mandarin, Cantonese and English mono soundtracks, were supplied to Arrow Films by Celestial Pictures.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin was restored by Celestial Pictures and L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2020. Additional grading was completed at R3Store Studios, London in 2021.

Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Five Superfighters, Invincible Shaolin, The Kid with the Golden Arm, Magnificent Ruffians, Ten Tigers of Kwangtung, Mercenaries from Hong Kong and The Boxer's Omen have all been newly restored by Arrow Films in 2021 and 2022, in collaboration with L'Immagine Ritrovata, Hong Kong Film Archive and Celestial Pictures. The original 35mm negatives for these films were scanned at L'Immagine Ritrovata Asia and restored in 2K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The films were graded at R3Store Studios, London. These restorations have used the entire film negative without resorting to the practice of "frame-cutting" resulting in the loss of film frames at each negative splice point.

The mono mixes were remastered from the original sound negatives at L'Immagine Ritrovata. Additional sound remastering was completed by Matthew Jarman/Bad Princess Productions.

All original materials supplied for these restorations were made available from the Hong Kong Film Archive via Celestial Pictures.

Excerpts from vintage 35mm feature print elements for Return to the 36th Chamber, Disciples of the 36th Chamber and My Young Auntie and vintage 35mm trailer prints for Disciples of the 36th Chamber, Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Mercenaries from Hong Kong and The Boxer's Omen were scanned and graded in 2K resolution at American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) and R3Store Studios.

Additional print materials were made available from American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), Harry Guerro, Scott Napier, King-Wei Chu and Howard Zinman.

The strength of the palette in this presentation is probably one of its most memorable elements, and everything from bold primaries to some rather gorgeous pastel-like pinks and oranges keep this visually entrancing a lot of the time. This is however another transfer where color temperatures can vary a bit, and things can look just slightly flushed or even tinged toward brown occasionally. Detail levels are generally very good to excellent, especially with regard to things like textures on costumes. In the broken record department, this is, like virtually all of the presentations in this set, occasionally subject to pretty severe anamorphic squeezing at the very edges of the frames. Grain is just a bit mottled looking, but there's obviously been no overt filtering done.

Disciples of the 36th Chamber Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Disciples of the 36th Chamber features Cantonese, Mandarin and English audio options, all delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. In this case, the Cantonese track struck my ears as being at least somewhat brighter and clearer than the Mandarin track, though the difference is not huge. As with many of the soundtracks in this second Shawscope volume, highs on all three options can be a little intense, especially in "blaring" moments like the music accompanying the Shaw Brothers masthead. The English track has some surprising energy in the midrange and low end. Dialogue, effects and score are delivered without any major issues in all three tracks. Optional English subtitles are available.

Disciples of the 36th Chamber Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged Return to the 36th Chamber and Disciples of the 36th Chamber together on one disc. However, after selecting Choose Film on the Main Menu, the Special Features then also change to reflect that choice. This film features the following supplements:

• Interview with Gordon Liu (HD; 14:50) is a 2003 interview conducted by Frederic Ambroisine and is offered as a special feature under both films' submenus. Subtitled in English.


• Alternate Opening Credits (HD; 4:15)


• Trailer Gallery

  HK Theatrical Trailer (HD; 3:33)

  
  

  Digital Reissue Trailer (HD*; 1:07)

• Image Gallery (HD)

*720

Disciples of the 36th Chamber Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The laws of attrition are probably starting to show with regard to this ostensible "third in a series" offering. Liu is as engaging a presence as always, but his character is really almost a supporting one in this story. Technical merits are generally solid, and while not as copious as on some of the other films in this set, the supplements are enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.